Although it may not seem like it in parts of the Northeast, it is officially spring. And although snow still may fall from the sky, it’s time to start planning your marketing calendar for spring and early summer. You may think it’s too early, but as I’ve discussed before, I’m a planner, and I need to get some dates on my calendar so nothing falls through the cracks.

Here are a few key dates to keep in mind over the next three months.

April 15Tax day! We all love this day so much, how could we ever forget about it? (That statement is dripping with sarcasm, if you couldn’t tell.) Take advantage of this time of year and offer a 15% discount on four of something – get it? 4/15? Or give a 15% discount on April 15. We’ll have more ideas for promoting this date as it gets closer.

April 22Earth Day. Take time to reflect and share with your customers all that your business is doing to improve the state of Mother Earth. Give out reusable shopping bags to every customer who comes in on April 22 or send an email newsletter that has tips and tricks on how your customers can reuse your products.

May 12Mother’s Day is always a good time to have a sale or to promote gifts to give to Mom. Or get creative and buy something a bit more nontraditional that she might still enjoy. Check out six products we recommended last year that you might not have thought you could sell on Mother’s Day.

Month of JuneGraduation. Dictionaries and suitcases were the things to give graduates in my day, but these days, it’s probably more along the lines of iPads and computers. You don’t have to go high-end to use this time of year to market to parents and grads. Again, get creative. There is no reason why you have to stick to the tried and true – your customers will appreciate your creativity.

June 16Father’s Day. Hammers and golf clubs are always good bets around this holiday, but just because that’s not the type of inventory you have doesn’t mean you can’t spin your products to be appropriate. For example, if you’re a non-profit, you can talk about how much Dad would like a contribution made in his name.

June 17 – 21Small business week. This year is the 50th anniversary of National Small Business week, and the Small Business Administration is doing events throughout the week in different cities, with the week culminating in Washington, DC. You can get more information on their website, but make sure you are promoting the fact that you are a small business and your customers are helping their local economy by buying from you.

We’ll be touching more on summer planning and all of these dates as they get closer, but I wanted to make sure that you had them on your calendar so you too could start your planning.

What other dates/holidays are you keeping top of mind to help promote your business?

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